My Kindle 2 arrived yesterday. I must say, Amazon did a fine job of package design for the device. The cardboard box is easy to open, makes efficient use of materials, and has visually appealing graphics. I turned the Kindle on, accessed the online store, and downloaded a novel - all in a span of less than 30 seconds. Reading on it seemed unusual ( Read more... )

My Kindle e reader should arrive early next week. I'm glad I waited for the Kindle 2 version -the design looks a lot more elegant and user friendly than the first generation. I considered the benefits of the DX version which has a much larger screen, but it didn't seem worth the price, not to mention the size penalty when taking it on trips ( Read more... )

I just saw a pic of Sammy Sosa's "rejuvenated" skin. Yikes.


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I've been re-reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. A good book for gray rainy days. I particularly liked this passage:

"He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The ( Read more... )

Hmmm.. a Johns Hopkins student killed an intruder with a Samurai sword ( Read more... )

I picked up Laura Saturday morning and we headed down to Glen Rose for a little weekend get away to celebrate my birthday. We arrived at the river tube rental place around mid day and the outfitter guy drove us down to where we launched into the Brazos. The water was moving so slowly that we had to paddle with our hands to make progress against a ( Read more... )

What makes a little toad think it's a good idea to try crossing the street? I noticed him about the same time a speeding SUV was bearing down. Fortunately the wheels missed him, barely, but he was disoriented and hopping about randomly, sure to get squished by the next car. So I slipped a doggie poop bag on my hand and went after him. Wow, the ( Read more... )

I got up at 7:00 thinking I would get in a nice long morning ride like I did Friday and Saturday, but I was startled to see rain when I looked out the window. A light drizzle rather than a Texas downpour. Instead of a bike ride, I put on my Boonie hat and took Sheba for a long walk in the rain. We both got a little soaked, but it felt awesome. Such ( Read more... )

Friday we took the JR train up to Shinjuku station where we located the C & C curry shop Laura found online. We ate at one location near the Ginza earlier in the week and it was so good we knew we would have to try it again. The place was really tiny with a narrow stand up counter around the perimeter of the room. We ate shoulder to shoulder with ( Read more... )

I just finished Rug Doctoring my carpets. I'm always pleased by how nice and clean the carpet looks after I've gone over it with the cleaning machine. And I'm always startled by how nasty the water looks when I dump out the reservoir. I guess weekly vacuuming doesn't get the ground in dirt hiding in the carpet fibers.